


Fruits Basket

by Monuesteez



Category: NU'EST
Genre: Aron's a girl, Fluff, Jonghyun's a dog, M/M, Manga: Fruits Basket
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23131948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monuesteez/pseuds/Monuesteez
Summary: In the heart of Seoul, twelve families collectively run the capital. Namely, the Pledis Family. They’re the ones who own multiple hospitals, banks, schools and businesses to their name. But they hold a secret. A malediction that affected one child in each of the twelve families. The cursed child would transform into one of the twelve Chinese Zodiacs should they be weak,under stress or come into physical contact with the opposite sex.Unfortunately for Kim Jonghyun, he was one of these children afflicted with the curse.
Relationships: Kim Jonghyun | JR/Aaron Kwak | Aron
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: Spring Blessings (Nu'est 8th Anniversary Fic Fest)





	1. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> That is my first fic ever, it may be not the best you will read, but I actually kind of like it ^^  
> And thanks to my beta @OvercomeLoveBot, the fic is much more better than it should be, so really THANK YOU !!
> 
> Please enjoy my fic now ! :D

Jonghyun, Dongho and Minki all attend Pledis High School and are childhood friends. They’re all Pledis kids and are therefore very handsome. It’s in their genes, you could say. Actually, they must be really good-looking to the point that their school even made a fanclub for them and coined nicknames for each one: Jonghyun’s was “National Leader”, Dongho’s “Sexy Bandit” and Minki was the all-powerful “Shoulder Gangster”.

Best friends Aron and Minhyun attend Pledis High too. Aron and Minhyun weren’t very popular, but had their own comfortable group of friends.

The three aforementioned friends and Minhyun had joined the school’s intervention program in which students and teachers teamed up to help those who were struggling with whatever school work they may have. Unfortunately for Aron, he couldn’t join to help other kids (after all, he was quite the over-achiever) due to his part-time job at New Establish Style Tempo. Otherwise known as NU’EST Café for convenience.

-

“Sorry kid,” chastised the weary teacher with a click of his tongue, “The room’s reserved for a reunion or something today. You’d probably have to find a new place. Or you could just go home and study there.”

Most students would just shrug it off and study at home but Minhyun really needed help this time round since his good-for-nothing teacher barely taught them anything substantial. _This_ _and that happened, now your test is next Monday_ was literally all that the tall boy got from all their lessons with said teacher.

How was he supposed to understand his test’s pointers now? Then, he suddenly remembered there was a place that they could go to.

Shaking Minki with his newfound frenzy, Minhyun relayed that they could go study in a nearby café. “Guys! I know just the place! I have a friend who works there. Pretty sure he can reserve a table for us.”

Shrugging with half-enthusiasm, Minki replies with the brightest smile he could muster (wasn’t much but hey, he’s exhausted). Minhyun’s desperation caused him to refrain from saying no.

“Of course we’ll help you!” At this, Minhyun’s eyes lit up with hope like two huge light bulbs. “But, your friend probably can’t reserve the whole café, right? Let’s just invite those who’re actually serious about studying.”

“Wouldn’t want to have the guy fired immediately if we’re being a mess, now would we?” Jonghyun interrupts. Ah, Nation’s Leader here to make sure everything’s going smoothly. Had he just let Minki, Minhyun and Dongho hold the study session on their own, the possibility of them getting kicked out would be higher than with him keeping everyone in check.

To get the study session in order, the Nation’s Leader layed out what was to happen: No more than three students will help a maximum of ten students because there’d be no way that Minhyun’s friend could secure spots for so many of them.

Within the next half hour, sixteen students were set to go to the NU’EST Café to learn.

-

To be completely honest, the kids hadn’t expected how pretty the café would turn out to be. It’s colour scheme seemed to be deep teal and vivid pink: the latter being the outside while the pink coloured the walls inside. Said bistro was also well illuminated, inasmuch that the lights looked like a brilliant cluster of fireflies.

On the windows, there was a big "LOVE" written, but the V was upside-down. One couldn’t be quite sure whether the owner specifically chose this design or if they made a mistake with the lettering. Meanwhile, the walls had framed paintings of five separate animals. One had a turtle painted in a somewhat traditional style as well as a shiba lazing under a tree. Another was laden with a mythical white mountain tiger next to a sly fennec fox. The last wall had a lone rabbit that seemed to be enjoying its time being surrounded by pink fireflies.

Seems like the owner just can’t get enough of fireflies right?

While the place may be charming, in terms of size, it was as average as any coffee shop could be. Ten or so tables were arranged inside and 2 small tables were out in the shop’s front for people to bask in the pleasant sunshine. Additionally, a couple of small sofas were present with plenty of cushions and cutest Spoonz plushies you wish you could have.

As soon as the gaggle of students entered the coffee shop, they were asked for how many seats to reserve but Minhyun just told them that they already got their tables reserved by a certain friend of his. Then, they were all led to their tables with the exception of Minhyun who waited for his friend.

At the sight of his disheveled best friend, the taller boy let out an evil cackle to embarrass the other and get a fun reaction out of him too.

“Dude,” shrieked Aron with a red face, “Shut up! I swear!”

Unfortunately for him, the flower boy just doubled over in laughter due to Kwak’s appearance.

Let’s face it, if your best friend was cross-dressing with the intention of not letting you see it, wouldn’t you be the evil friend too?

"Never knew you were into that, Aron-hyung!" Minhyun’s eyes were literally tearing up with amusement, much to the humiliation of the other boy.

In a hurried manner, Aron tried to explain that the café’s staff had to dress up at the opposite gender for whatever special event the shop had going on. It was at this point that the students were just really concerned for Minhyun’s lungs since he kept on laughing and the person he was with kept on screaming at him to stop his bullshit.

“Shut up otherwise I’ll ban all of you from the cadé under ‘being disrespectful to staff’.” That got him to shut up quite nicely. But not without sneaking in petty glances and snickers. You never really got what you wanted with Hwang Minhyun after all.

-

It took a while for Jonghyun to finish teaching his peer basic English (again) but once he did, he made a beeline for the bathroom, avoiding everyone and everything as much as possible. He could say he was pretty successful with his mission. But that was just for the way to and not the way back.

Heading out of the washroom, Jonghyun had the misfortune of bumping into a girl. He blanked out and his eyes shut closed on instinct. So much for his ‘fast reflexes’. To make matters worse, the washrooms weren’t exactly concealed nor discreet so practically everyone could see the commotion that went down. Everyone would see that Jonghyun fucked up.

  
You know what? That’s putting it lightly. Jonghyun definitely gave himself away this time and the dragon (or Jihoon) couldn’t erase everyone’s goddamn memories.

“Shit,” Jonghyun spat out in panic. He won’t be able to recover from this ever. But, the unexpected happened. Initially, Jonghyun thought he would turn into a dog- however, that didn’t happen.

“Are you alright, sir?” Jonghyun’s eyes darted to the source of the voice. It belonged to the girl he happened to nearly trip over. All he could do was gape stupidly as if he was being hypnotized like a fucking idiot before she made Jonghyun stand upright once again. Before he could even utter his thanks, she disappeared into the stalls.

  
 _Shouldn’t I have transformed? Just who is she? Is she my soulmate…? That’s ridiculous,_ _right?_ was Jonghyun’s first thought while his brain was still processing the whole thing. The curse never failed until now. Then why didn’t he turn into his assigned zodiac animal?

_Isn’t she supposed to go to the women’s washroom?_ was Jonghyun’s second thought when he finally was able to recollect himself. He brushed it away soon after, chalking it up to the bathrooms being unisex anyways.

Everyone else was minding their own business so no one saw what happened. Well, all except for Minki, ever-vigilant Minki, who even tore his eyes away from Minhyun.

“Hyung,” Minki whispered tentatively to his friend when he returned to his seat, albeit red all over, “Didn’t you just go to the bathroom? The hell did you do there?”

Jonghyun didn’t reply. Rather, he looked into his lap, took heavy breaths and picked at his nails in an attempt to calm himself down.

“Don’t tell me you jacked off in there and someone caught you, you punk,” the younger had tried for a lighter approach but his smile slid off once he saw that his friend drew into himself even more.

So Minki did what he had to do. He pulled the pleading rabbit eyes card on Jonghyun, confident that he’d agree to telling him everything because no one really turned him down so far. Obviously, the Nation's Leader would fall for it too.

“If you insist, Minki. So…”

Minki’s reactions morphed throughout the retelling and he couldn’t be too sure whether he should laugh or stay confused. Hey, the story was kind of unbelievable.

When he finished, Minki remained as baffled as he was before; if not a little bit more confused. “What do you mean you _didn’t_ turn into a dog?” he whispered, though his voice was threatening to skyrocket to at least 2 more octaves, “I’m pretty sure that the curse won’t give leeway to anyone- especially you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean Minki?” the boy in question threatened lightly.

“Nothing. Are you sure it wasn’t a guy with long hair? It happens nowadays, you know?”

At that, the two argued whether or not guys would wear makeup to make themselves more feminine and it ended when Jonghyun made the point that there’d be no reason a guy would come to work in drag unless they were actually female.

“Bastard.” Minki gave up arguing with his dumbass friend. “Just ask Minhyun’s friend or something. They’re co-workers so they may know each other.” Then he quietly added, _So I can_ _prove your blind ass right._

Jonghyun nodded at this idea. "But not now, he’s studying and you wouldn’t disturb him, right?” Minki pouted at this because it’s true: Minhyun was very serious about his studying and wouldn’t want to be disturbed by something like this. It was going to be a while until they’d find out about the mysterious person.

-

After approximately fifty drinks and 5 hours, the club called it a day and started to head home shortly after. That was their signal to find that unknown girl.

Upon walking up to Minhyun, they realised he was talking to the girl they were looking for. Both were bewildered to the extent that they had no idea what to do next.

“Minki,” Jonghyun’s voice slightly trembled and had an edge of uncertainty to it, “What if they’re-”

“God, don’t,” mumbles Minki softly.

“What if she’s Minhyun’s girlfriend? He’d probably think I’m trying to hit on her or something!”

Just like that, the two launched into yet another debate on whether or not Minhyun had lied to them about being lonely and single with Minki calling the other a liar repeatedly.

Then Dongho, ever clueless Dongho who really only paid attention to food, butted in. “What are y’all blabbing about? Plus, why’d both of you come if all you did was bicker?”

Before even letting the two reply, Baekho went all mother-hen on them: “Minki, you don’t need lessons and neither do I, but since you barged into the club to get your daily eye candy, I can’t just let you do as you wish. You two might-”

“Dongho, Minki. I’m warning _both of you_.” The discussion immediately died down out of fear for their lives at the expense of Jonghyun.

Just to be safe that their friend wouldn’t stab him with his straw in the neck, the youngest asked if he could say what he wanted to. Pissed off as he may be, Jonghyun let the talk continue only after warning them that if it ever goes above a certain limit, he’ll kick them out the café.

“Aight then, loverboy.” Minki gestured to the man of the hour and wiped a non-existent tear off his cheek. “Jju is growing! He’s grown a liking to a girl. A _very special_ girl in fact!” With extra emphasis on “very special”.

And the most energetic of the group of friends told the whole story to Dongho, who’s being missing out quite a lot. Dongho seemed like he wanted to say something once the story was over but Minhyun had just announced that he’s leaving to save his own ass from his friend. He ran away laughing without so much as a good-bye to the boys (Minki was devastated at not  
being able to say his farewells).

“Maybe they really are a thing.” Minki was literally close to tears at the very thought of his true love being taken from him.

Assuring Minki is never a walk in the park but Dongho always seems to know how to comfort his friend. “There’s no point in mulling over it right now. Maybe she’s just a scary childhood friend of his.”

-

The next day came and it was… normal? Well, to most students it probably was. But it definitely wasn’t for Minki and Jonghyun who spent time after their class running to Minhyun’s classroom, with poor Dongho in tow.

“Hey,” Minhyun greeted the panting kids cheerfully, “Are you looking for someone?”

With rapid consecutive nods, Minki explained that they were indeed waiting for someone and it turned out to be Minhyun because they wanted to ask if they could have lunch with his little group of friends. No one had any objections; they figured it’d be nice if they socialised a bit more than usual and besides, they looked fun.

Minhyun introduced everyone to each other one by one, two of his most notable friends being Joshua and Aron, at least to Jonghyun. Taking one glance at Aron’s youthful face, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of déjà vu hit him square in the face. Why did Aron look like the girl from the café? Maybe they were siblings?

Students were filling the cafeteria to the brim by the time the group reached there to eat. Each of them got their own lunch and started eating in awkward silence, even if the place was roaring with rambunctious students everywhere. What else was there for Jonghyun to do but to try to bring up the girl from yesterday?

“So,” he started, unsure of how he’d phrase his thoughts, “We went to that new café near the school for the club, right? I was actually thinking of talking to the girl you were talking to, Minhyun.”

At the mention of the girl, Minhyun and Joshua’s giggles turned into full-blown laughs whilst Aron was trying to keep his cool to refrain from slapping his best friends. Unfortunately for him, Jonghyun unknowingly made it worse.

“Minhyun-ah, was she your girlfriend?”

That was when the two traitors started attracting other students towards the commotion with their cackles. Meanwhile, Aron’s pale face flared up with a deep scarlet blush due to embarrassment caused by his so-called friends.

Had Jonghyun said something wrong? 

“Apologies, hyung,” Minhyun managed to choke out between bouts of laughter that had somewhat died down, “She isn’t my girlfriend nor is she actually-”

That would be Aron who was desperately trying to make his best friend shut the fuck up.

“Nor is she actually...?” Since Minhyun hadn’t finished his sentence before Aron twisted his arm, Jonghyun was genuinely curious about whatever he had to say.

"She isn’t from this school !" yelled Aron who was really fidgety and panicky, "Why are you asking?" 

“Ah.” Dongho puckered up his lips in mischief. “Jonghyun-hyung here may have found his soulmate, at least according to this dumbass.” Saying this, he gestured vaguely in Minki’s general direction. 

“We’re helping our poor soul here! Do you mind giving him her number? He’s smitten as hell,” teased Minki.

Aron turned them down promptly. Dongho then saw an opportunity and snatched it before he could realise he said the wrong words. He grilled Aron by asking him how’d he know, especially since he clearly wasn’t the girl they were looking for.

Struggling to explain himself since he had dug a hole for himself so deep he wondered how he’ll get out of it, he tried to explain how they’re twins so therefore they had the same tastes and he’s positive Jonghyun won’t get through her.

"Oh I see. But you aren’t the exact same so could I at least see her one time ?" Jonghyun pleaded with his friends doing the same.

"What? ‘Course not."

"Please?" The boy continued to try in vain. Aron tried to avoid his gaze but couldn’t because Jonghyun kept moving to face him. Before long, their faces were merely millimeters apart.

“Alright!” Aron raised his hands in defense and slacked his position. “When are you free?”

_Shit, what have I done?_ , Aron mumbled as he hugged Jonghyun back, though not as fiercely.


	2. The First Date

The d-day finally arrived so Jonghyun could finally meet his crush after 3 weeks. However much Jonghyun tried to see the girl at NU’EST Café, he couldn’t see her there and Aron repeatedly said that she was taking a break from working due to her upcoming exams. Another time, Aron said she was sick and couldn’t come.

At this point, Jonghyun didn’t know what to believe in anymore.

Jonghyun’s mind had started to spin everyday as he worried about the girl more and more. The day they were supposed to meet up, Jonghyun was scared that she gave up on meeting him as Aron would say she would. Well, he didn’t say so explicitly but he did say that 

What if she really had some incurable sickness and all he did was asking to see her and he didn’t consider her at all? He really felt like a dick but, he really wanted to meet this mysterious girl- at any cost.

“Oh, you’re here!” Aron called Jonghyun from a distance. “Sorry for making you wait! Took a bit of time to get ready. Hope you don’t mind.” 

Jonghyun was gawking shamelessly and didn’t bother to cover his messy act up. “Nah. It’s fine! At least you came!” He voiced out some internet slang mid-conversation which was totally a normal thing to do if you live on the internet. Aron, on the other hand, looked concerned as the boy vocalised some emoji along with the slang and he wasn’t quite sure as to how he did that.

“I never realised I haven’t asked Aron-hyung your name yet,” Jonghyun spoke without the realisation that he had put the older boy on the spot, “So, what’s your name?”

Practicing his fake smile and raising his voice a little bit higher (to a comfortable pitch, high enough but not), Aron replied cheerily: “I’m Grace!” and extended his arm out for a polite handshake but it seemed like Jonghyun went for a friendly hug instead. 

Aron dug himself a grave for sure.

-

  
  


“Look,” the older laced his hands together to brace himself for whatever crap his mouth was going to spill, “Aron told me that your friend said that I may be your soulmate?”

“That would be Minhyun, for your information.”

“Ah,” Aron made a mental note to murder big-head the next time he’d see him, “How’s that even possible? Like, we didn’t even know of each other’s existence until like, three weeks ago!” 

_Even now we still don’t know much about each other_ , the crossdresser quietly added.

“Do you know the anime movie ‘Your Name’?” 

At this, Aron would admit that he never really thought of Jonghyun as a weeb until this conversation. What more, he was pleasantly surprised to hear the other be really enthusiastic about comparing how the characters are similar to their situation right now. Namely, the two never knew each other until one day, their paths crossed when they lived as each other from time to time. 

Aron felt really guilty for deceiving Jonghyun like this. If he truly was who he said he was, he might have actually thought Jonghyun was kind of cute. Come on. The kid literally has hearts for eyes that would pop out if he was too reckless. 

“What was so special about our first meeting, then?” the fool asked, as if testing the waters with Jonghyun. To see how he’d react to Aron being passive in the conversation.

Clearly, Jonghyun was undeterred by Aron’s lack of energy. It was slightly surprising to say the least. All that did was push Jonghyun into a whole (shy) oration of how important their meeting was to him. But, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t upset at the way Aron had treated an event that was close to his heart. Ashamed, Aron looked away.

“Perhaps it wasn’t so special for you,” his voice spoke with the slightest tremble, “But it was for me.” Out of curiosity and pity, Aron decided to stop gorging himself and forced his ears to pick up whatever Jonghyun were to say next. His heart pulled him forward with an emotion unbeknownst to him.

“Call me weird or whatever but just… don’t tell anyone else. Please?” His single audience nodded briefly in affirmation. 

“I don’t know what to exactly say but I have an illness? Pretty much. It’s like, I can’t have physcial contact with the opposite sex. But you’re… different? You prevented me from falling which meant that you had to touch me and all and I didn’t transf-” Jonghyun stopped himself from exposing too much.

“I mean nothing happened then. That’s why I think we have a connection. You and I.” Jonghyun finished gesturing to the space between them.

Silence prevailed for a moment. This led Jonghyun to assume that he had weirded Grace (Aron) out and there will literally be no chance for him anymore. His legs had instinctively folded around each other as if to protect him from some deadly blow. His fingers followed suit, frightened at the thought that he may be abandoned right there and then.

“Don’t worry,” Aron spoke so softly, his voice was initially drowned in the mindless chatter of the establishment, “I won’t judge. If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly is your sickness? Quite strange, if you ask me.”

In that instant, hearing Aron’s soft, raspy voice stopped all worries Jonghyun had concocted on the spot. Grace’s (Aron’s) voice wasn’t something he was used to but the starry-eyed boy figured he could get used to it. Women’s lower voices often went unappreciated, after all.

But that comfort was washed out immediately after realising that he’d have to deal with the aftermath of his words. There wasn’t any illness with the odd symptoms he had addressed- he always looked it up when he was younger and consequently found nothing. Jonghyun could technically spout out some random word and tell his supposed soulmate that however, they might search it up in an attempt to help him.

A singular thought swam its way into the front of his mind. 

“Tell her.”

Out of anxiety and shock at the sheer gall of the idea, the younger hit the table which then nearly spilled all their food and caused Grace to jump unexpectedly. 

Jonghyun felt such a connection to this complete stranger that he’d even willingly give his heart to them but isn’t totally what they’d react to his “illness”. If everything went downhill, he’ll just have Jihoon mitigate the damage by wiping Aron’s memories. 

Sensing his acquaintance’s discomfort, Aron attempted to calm him down by assuring him that he doesn’t have to explain should he feel uncomfortable with the topic. Smiles of comfort and compassion soaked through Jonghyun’s heart gradually, loosening the knots produced by his anxiety. 

All he did to ease Aron’s worry was shaking his head vigorously and confirming that he was just overthinking. As if to emphasise that was where the conversation would end, he suggested that they should finish their meal so they can head out to wherever he’d bring them. 

_I can’t lose you_ , Jonghyun realised when his heart felt like defrosting from the stress just by looking at Aron’s gentle face.

-

The pair ran all the way to the park within the next quarter of an hour. If anything, it was just Jonghyun’s excuse to let his heart beat erratically while making a getaway from Aron. Besides, the destination wasn’t too far plus, was good exercise.

For the seasons had just shifted to spring, the park was teeming with delicate flower buds as they yearned for the sun. Trees provided cool shade with their leaves growing out once more as well as shelter for the tender birds making their way to who-knows-where. 

One could even say that the plaza was perfect yet, it wasn’t quite so for the two high-schoolers running around carelessly. Everything was so perfect, with the exception of the fact that it was crowded by numerous nameless personas that Jonghyun held no interest in.

As a result, Jonghyun took Aron to a place where there weren't too many people so they could talk in private. When they found said place, they lay down side by side on the freshly cut grass.

"Grace, is it too personal if I ask you why you’re working in that new cafe?” Jonghyun had asked hesitantly. 

Aron shook his head innocently. "No, not at all. I just need money for my future university."

Taken aback, Jonghyun asked whether his chosen university was so expensive that he had to start saving at a young age. Aron explained bashfully that there were already so many of them at home so he wanted to help out in any way he could. 

The conversation just went like that. The two talked about what they’d want to do in the future and what university they’d go for for that job. Jonghyun found out that Aron would love to study at New York University for journalism with all the good things about it and all. 

Unfortunately, Jonghyun was unable to reciprocate the same enthusiasm since he hadn’t really thought about the future before that moment. WIth the curse? He just always assumed that it was way too risky for him. There was always the possibility of a girl accidentally coming into contact with him. Unlike Seungcheol, Jonghyun’s curse hadn’t disappeared yet but even then, he just accepted that he’d be like that. 

In the end, he always knew that if anything were to go wrong, he’d have to stay at the Pledis home all his life. Just like his family members.  
  


And Jonghyun didn’t want that kind of life.

Just like before, Aron’s sultry voice pulled him out of the ocean of thoughts the younger had created for himself. As if he was the anchor Jonghyun was looking for.

"Do you tend to overthink a lot?"

"Sadly, yes. It’s kinda bad for me. Can’t help it though,” came Jonghyun’s sharp answer.

"How’s that bad? Besides dark thoughts and all."

"Oh it’s because of my sickness! If I start to overthink, I start to stress too."

Aron then proceeded to declare how weird the other’s disease was by comparing it to a movie he had seen with his family about a set of parents lying to their kid so they could keep the family intact. The boy sitting next to him refuted by questioning his tastes in films. 

_If only you knew, Grace_ , whispered Jonghyun to no one in particular once the conversation had dulled to comfortable silence.

-

Before long, the day had come to a close. “Grace” bid her farewells early since she had to leave for work early. As disappointed as Jonghyun was, he understood and offered to accompany Aron to work.

“Grace,” Jonghyun called anxiously, “How was our date?”

Aron stopped in his tracks, not expecting his new friend to ask that. Trying to reply, he stammered and he could feel heat rise from his chest to his ears. 

“Wait!” Now it was Jonghyun’s turn to feel the embarrassment crawl up to his face. “Do you not want to call it a date? Sorry! Then how was the hang-out?”

“No it’s fine. Our **date** was great, you actually are really cool, didn’t think that the first time I saw you. You?”

“Super fun!” Jonghyun embraced Aron, who was quite flustered by this sudden action. "And I really hope I will see you again soon." 

For a split second, Aron’s heart nearly leaped out his chest when he made eye contact with the lovable Jonghyun.

“Yeah I hope too,” the crossdresser spoke to the night sky as Jonghyun was leaving for his home.

-

As soon as Jonghyun entered the Pledis quarters, Minki and Dongho didn't even give him the chance to breathe before they bombarded him with queries regarding their “date”.

"So how was it ?”

“Where did you go?” 

“Is she as mean as her brother?”

“Did you two kiss ?”

“Or maybe you two hug?”

“Tell us everything!”

“Calm down, jeez! So it was very good, we ate and went to the park. We talked about our personal life and stuff. And…” Dongho and Minki’s eyes grew larger with anticipation and excitement with every word but did so more with the hesitation at the end of Jonghyun’s retelling.

“We hugged? Twice?”

That set off the pair’s screams and jittery energy. Minki cried as if he was sending his own child off to his first day of kindergarten whilst Jeonghan popped out of nowhere to join his friend only for him to get scolded because of his poor acting. 

"Yeah, whatever,” Jeonghan casually tossed his conversation with Minki aside to talk to Jonghyun, “Did you actually meet a girl who could hug you and not cause you to transform?" Judging from the skeptical tone of his voice, Jonghyun knew that he was still doubtful of his words. Plus, he had that “please don’t lie to me” look in his eyes.

Jonghyun placed a hand on his chest, feigning offense to the other’s words. "Why do I feel hurt when you say it like that? Do you really think I’m lying about something as important as this?"

Hearing the boy’s truth and completely absorbing it, Jeonghan happily congratulated him and eagerly asked if they could meet her someday. It was then followed up by him pouting at the realisation that he may not ever get to hug the opposite sex. To understand a fraction of the sensation, he inquired Jonghyun of it.

“It isn’t really that different from hugging a guy,” Jonghyun replied after putting a little bit of thought to it. Bewildered as Jeonghan was, he accepted this, although he and the other two boys were probably as confused as him with this analogy. Dongho then brought up how Nayoung claimed that hugging a girl was like hugging a plush toy. More puzzled than ever, the three mulled over the fact they’d never get the chance to actually embrace a girl without anything catastrophic happening. 

"Are you sure it wasn’t a boy, hyung?" Dongho’s thoughts were a wild storm of what they had thought out to be true and what he thought to be false. 

"What? No! As I already told Minki, she was very femininely and why would a guy crossdress for something as normal as everyday life?” 

"Minki and I already did that, a lot of time."

“Screw you. Why do you guys always go against your favourite hyung?” The annoyed boy pouted to try guilt-tripping his friends. It kind of worked.

"Only telling the truth here!"

Afterwards, the youngest of the quartet asked if he could stay over at Jonghyun’s so he’ll know every detail of the “date” and get the necessary information to clown him properly. Dongho and Jeonghan were slow to follow suit so they were denied the privilege. 

Leaving the boys with pretty voices behind, Jonghyun head home with Minki hot on his heels.

-

All the houses of the eleven families were identical to each other thus making Jonghyun’s abode no different from Minki’s. He practically had the layout memorised for every home as it’s the same for each. Quite a quaint, little house it was. 

Upon arrival, Jonghyun’s mother greeted them warmly and urged them to come eat dinner. She took the opportunity to interview her son regarding his date and all. Meanwhile, Jonghyun’s father listened attentively to get all the gossip. 

Starry-eyed Minki simply couldn’t resist butting into the familial conversation (they didn’t mind; he was basically family at this point) that he asked when Jonghyun would inaugurate the next date. Dejectedly, Jonghyun presented the possibility of Grace (Aron) not wanting to meet him again. Nothing memorable had happened, he argued feebly. 

As much as Minki tried to persuade the miserable boy that there was always the positive side of things, Jonghyun kept countering with the lack of enthusiasm on Grace’s part. Ultimately he had just concluded that perhaps she wasn’t too keen on continuing the dates and possibly Jonghyun too. “She was probably being polite MInki-ya,” he murmured in a self-announced defeat. 

"Darling," Jonghyun’s mother finally said, "You can do it, I know you can. This Grace is special. You have to see her again. At least to get some sort of closure.”

"Listen to your mom, dude,” the guest responded easily, “Did you get her number? It’d be easier than asking Aron-hyung everytime."

“Got it! Was kinda tough but she did give it!”

"Not now, Jju," Jonghyun’s father lightly berated, “After dinner.”

-

Subsequently, the teens raced to get to Jonghyun’s room where they nonchalantly plopped onto his bed. Ever since they were younger they had always slept together. It wasn’t weird and frankly, they won’t consider it weird when they’re older. Though, it’s likely that they won’t do so when they do grow up.

Sensing Minki’s restlessness, Jonghyun asked him what was on his mind. The boy just sighed and decided to rant to him about his situation at home with his mother. 

“Why can’t you just live freely? You already have this curse. And, you’re into guys,” Minki said as he mimicked his mother’s tone, “Why did you choose a useless stylist job when you grow up?”

“Don’t mind her,” Jonghyun offered encouragingly after Minki finished ranting, “We’ll support you. Find the guy that’ll hold your heart gently and leave this hell. The faster the better.” 

“I did.” Minki gazed at the stars outside the window lovingly. “ I’m just waiting for him to see what he’s missing. But, you’ve gotta do it too, y’know. Ask her out, or somethin’.”

Charged by Minki’s eagerness, Jonghyun turned his phone on, scrolled through his contacts and stopped at “Grace’s” name. He simply was at a loss for words. What would he even say?

A simple greeting would get him nowhere. An invitation to another hang-out would seem too straightforward. Anything else just sounded plain cringey; sure to keep them away. 

Fed up with Jonghyun’s indecisiveness, Minki grabbed the phone and typed out a response while the older stood frozen, unsure whether to trust Minki or not. 

The text read: 

"Hey! Today was really cool, I really had fun and I hope you did too! Could we meet again soon ? ;)"

-

At another home, Aron had all his makeup removed by a fellow co-worker, who went by Kyulkyung, who knew about the situation. As soon as that grueling process was over, he called Minhyun to let him know what went on. 

Their phone call went as written below:

"Aronnie! How was the date ?"

"Not as awful as I thought. Pretty great. Did you know that he had some sort of illness?"

"What? I didn’t know, and it didn’t seem like he’s sick. He’s always so cheerful and practically hugs everything that can move."

"Everything?"

"Yeah everything, probably even trees. Or was that Minki? I don’t remember."

"Girls included?"

"No? But still. If he was really sick, why’d he hug everyone? What if he contaminates people?

“Pretty sure it isn’t infectious. He just can’t hug the opposite gender.”

"What kinda sickness is that?”

"Beats me,fam. He seemed uncomfortable with that so I didn't ask more."

"Well then. Just tell me the tea: what did you guys do? Will you go on another date?"

“I don’t know. I don’t want to crossdress again, my dignity’s long gone. But…”

Aron sighed before continuing. "He was so happy to talk with me, be near me, and especially when he hugged me. But I was a girl, and I want to have all of this as Aron now, I don’t want to face him as someone I’m not. What do I do?"

"Then tell him you are Aron and not…?” Minhyun paused giving Aron the space to tell him his fake name.

"Grace."

"Yeah your sister. So, tell him you’re Aron."

"But he was so happy to be with ‘Grace’. I don’t want him to be sad because I was a guy. What if he’ll think that I’m playing with his feelings? God, maybe he’ll be embarrassed to have a friend who like crossdressing.”

"Wait, you like to dress like a girl ?"

"No! But he’ll think like that!"

"Okay, breathe. If you’re so hung-up on what he’ll think, just hang-out like usual.”

“I can’t!”

Minhyun hadn’t realised how stressed he was getting just listening to Aron ramble on and on. “So, do you not like him?” Pause. “There’s no way you already love him.”

"No, no it’s not that. I barely know him. It's just that I don’t want to hurt him.” After those words, Aron’s phone vibrated to alert him that he had gotten a text from Jonghyun.

"Shit! What do I do? Jonghyun texted me asking when we’d meet again!"

“Don’t ask me! Just greet him with a ‘Hi!’ and a smiley.”

"Just that?"

"What no! To hell with your dumb ass. Say that you’ll want to meet him again."

"Ok then." Aron typed out his message without a second thought. “Sent!"

"My boy is growing, I’m so proud." Minhyun sniffled and wiped a false tear away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like their first date ! I wish it was better, but since I don't know enough english to translate everything, I just want to make it short, and thank to my beta, it's better so I hope you will like it !!


	3. The Last Date

Weeks passed again and the odd pair went on yet another date. Conversations were fruitful as was the date. But, Aron couldn’t help but feel the guilt crawl up and invade his mind with each heart-eyed glance Jonghyun threw at him. They had grown closer and so did their hearts. 

The more time that waned, the more Aron sunk into his love for Jonghyun, unbeknownst to the boy himself. 

“Which date was this again?” Minhyun exasperated, attempted to count how many dates Aron and Jonghyun had gone on, only to come up short of ten fingers. 

“Fucking amazing,” came Aron’s lovesick response that mimicked a teenage girl’s voice when narrating her first kiss, “I couldn’t wish for a better date.” At that, Minhyun scoffed but not unkindly. Following Aron’s wistfulness, Minhyun mocked his friend for falling head-first into this love crap. Aron just ignored him and continued fantasising about having Jonghyun permanently in his life.

"So in love, it’s absolutely disgusting." Minhyun mimed some rude expression and consequently gained a punch in his arm from Aron. "But, hyung." Minhyun stopped laughing. "You know what you have to do."

A single sigh was heaved out of Aron’s chest. “Of course. But I just can’t go up to him and say ‘Hey, I can’t talk to you anymore’ because that would sound shitty.”

“Just tell him the truth. That you’re actually Grace. It’ll save you the trouble.”

What the two didn’t notice looming in the background became their demise. Minki’s voice echoed across the room like an angry beast. Aron and Minhyun hadn’t realised that he came over and probably heard the whole conversation. 

“You fucking bastard,” Minki’s foul mouth spat out in anger, “You tricked Jonghyun into thinking you were Grace? Shame on you too, Minhyun. You _knew_ everything.”

Dying by Minki was definitely not one of the things they wanted to get checked off their bucket list. “Minki, I can explai-” came Minhyun’s futile plead just for their killer to cut him off in fury. 

"Fuck your explanation,” rambled Minki, face scarlet with anger, “I knew it was impossible for him to hug a girl. How dare you lie to us? To him.”

The pair got caught red-handed and their expressions became sombre with the guilt of their actions. It was as if they were children who got lectured for breaking their parents’ expensive vase. 

On the other hand, Minki’s face softened in understanding that his reaction was uncalled for. Though, he was still pretty pissed. After a few moments, he composed himself once again and let them explain. To be completely honest, Minki’s gesture of “I’ll cut your pretty heads off” wasn’t the most calming gesture to let them tell their side of the story peacefully.

“Alright, coming clean here,” Aron nervously spoke, not looking up from his lap to meet Minki’s eyes, “Jonghyun saw me at the café I worked at, that being the NU’EST Café. You already knew that.

“Unfortunately for the staff, we had to dress up as the opposite sex for the day for the café’s weekly theme. We happened to bump into each other then. Jonghyun asked the girl version of me out on a date but, me being a dumbass, said that ‘she’ was my sister just to get that outta the way. I never knew he’d be that persistent. Well, his eyes were literally two perfect hearts so how the hell could I resist!”

Minki looked like he got slapped in the face with a freezing cold hand. And Aron wasn’t even done yet. Minhyun consoled his secret admirer by holding his hands within his. As a result, Minki’s heart crashed against the confines of his chest.

“I accepted and all but I never knew how hard I’d fall. God. I wanted to make him a little bit happier, with his illness and all. Fuck. I know I’m not a saint, but I thought I could be- for him. Like, I was a dick for being someone I’m not but wasn’t he happy?”

Once Aron had reached the end of his explanation, bricks of guilt he hadn’t even known were there were lifted off his shoulders. But his heart weighed as heavy as ever. His head fell into his trembling hands, anxiously waiting for Minki’s verdict.

Minki was greatly conflicted.

It was really kind of Aron because he cared about Jonghyun’s feelings. But what he did was a dick move too. If Jonghyun knew about it, it would break his heart since he had so much hope for this relationship and Grace. Or Aron. 

Jonghyun caught feelings for Aron, but that was because he thought that he was Grace. What would happen when he’d find out he liked Aron- a guy? 

Would he be disgusted? All three of them were scared for what Jonghyun would do.

Sadly, the devil appeared behind them and joined the talk.

“What’s up?” Jonghyun casually said, “Y’all seem so down. What went on?” Aron finally took the liberty of looking up but the moment he was faced with Jonghyun’s radiant smile, he immediately tore his eyes away. 

"Nothing you have to worry about." Minki sighed and smiled at Jonghyun.

"If you say so.” Jonghyun decided to just let the matter drop, it was probably something between the three of them. “Oh Aron, I haven't seen you for a long time! Just wanted to thank you for letting me take your sister out on dates!” 

Guilty, Aron started to blush profusely and didn’t look at Jonghyun. At this point, he was just hoping that the other wouldn’t hear his heart giving away his whole secret. 

“Could I ask you something, Aron-hyung?” 

No reply. 

“I was thinking of dating Grace. I know we’re not super close and all but I really like her and I’m willing to court her first and then date her. Can I?”

_Aron is totally screwed now_ , Minhyun and Minki thought at the same time. He couldn’t even answer Jonghyun due to his shock. The words seemed to burn inside his throat as his blush rose higher.

"You can’t.” Aron quietly answered with unspoken fury. Or embarrassment. Take your pick.

“Why?” Jonghyun placed his hands on his hips in mild annoyance. He was so sure Aron would give him the go signal.

_Great going_ , Aron mumbled to himself. He then proceeded to stupidly say that Grace would be heading home to America for good. Of course, this was definitely not the truth but Jonghyun fell for it, just like all the other lies Aron had told. 

"Please don’t look at me like that."

"What do you mean?" Against Aron’s wishes, his heart leaped to his throat when Jonghyun unintentionally pouted even more. 

"He really fell for Jonghyun, didn’t he ?" Minki noted and relayed the information to Minhyun, as if he didn’t know already.

"If you don’t believe me,” Aron’s voice got increasingly higher and angrier with every word, “Ask her. Don’t cry when she rejects you.”

"As if he can ever say no to him," Minki clowned.

“Really?” Jonghyun‘s eyes shined. “Don’t disagree when she says yes!”

Rolling his eyes, Aron muttered that he won’t get anything out of it because “Grace” would definitely decline Jonghyun’s advances.

“You know what?” Jonghyun spoke after realising something, “You guys really are twins! Your faces are so similar and hugging both of you feels exactly the same!” 

In that very moment, Minhyun and Minki turned to Aron with eyes that seemed to say “You’re very screwed” and Aron couldn’t agree more.

-

"I have an idea!” Minki screamed into Aron’s ears, “What if you guys come to my house so I can get to dress you as a girl? Your fashion choices are war crimes against society!" 

Since he made up his mind, he decided to help Aron for his next date where he’ll tell Jonghyun the truth.

"Care to enlighten me as to why Choi Minki, of all people, is with us?" asked Aron no more than a whisper.

"I don’t know, he asked me and I can’t say no." Minhyun shrugged as if that would solve everything.

“Whatever,” Minki said as he closed his sketching notebook, “I already have your entire look planned. You’ll have to wear a skirt though.”

“Fuck off,’ Aron protested. Never in his life would he have thought he would wear a skirt. Blouses were fine but skirts and dresses went over what Aron stood for. Though, he will admit that he had tried his sister’s skirt once and he hasn’t felt as free since,

"Why not, you ass? You’d be so pretty! Shave your legs or something. Or not. Jonghyun will like you anyways.”

“Thanks? I’ll do anything else but wear a skirt. I’m still a guy, Minki!”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re still gonna wear them. I’ve a lot of skirts that I bought because I was bored and I’m pretty thrilled someone’s gonna finally wear ‘em!” Minki accidentally hit the ceiling from his excitement.

-

When the three boys arrived at the Pledis Quarters, Aron and Minhyun were amazed by the sheer size of the total residence area. Twelve traditional houses surrounded a park of considerable size with an elaborate marble fountain at its centre. 

Minki’s abode was the first to the right of the direction. It was a large house with a traditional minimalist theme to it. Minhyun was reminded of a childhood drawing of his when looking at the house; it was as simple as you could get it with about one type of flower in the soil around it. 

“Welcome to my humble home,” Minki announced while taking off his shoes, “I’ll tell my parents you guys came over. Could you wait?” In the instant he walked into his house, his mother came out and greeted him with an icy stare. 

Minki closed the door to prevent his friends from hearing whatever bullshit his mother was on this time. With her, you never know what you’ll get.

“Who are they?” She demanded, referring to the two boys outside. “You didn’t come home until now: where were you?”

“My friends. I have a project to do with them.” 

“Don’t you have more to say?” The silence that followed was so harsh, but Minki was used to it. It’s not like he had anything else to say. The lesser words, the better. Less questions. Less disappointment. 

Mrs. Choi let out a sigh of exasperation. "I didn’t know you had other friends besides the kids here. Or are they your boyfriends?” 

"Didn’t you hear me the first time? I said they’re my friends,” Minki talked back, already tired. Usually he could go for a couple hours before snapping but he had things to do and she wasn’t making anything easier.

"Don’t talk to me like that, you cursed child!" She yelled furiously. Minki took it like it was nothing.

"Sorry, we need to get this project done quickly,” he replied in barely a whisper. Mrs. Choi then let him go after warning him that they had to be quiet for she had a guest over.

"Yes mother." Minki let out a small sigh and opened the door. As soon as he opened the door, Aron and Minhyun stood stiffly upright like soldiers. They tried for easy smiles but when their host turned his back to lead them to his room, they held expressions of concern. 

They entered the room of the Chois’ son and gasped at how large the space was. Hell, the walk-in closet was probably the same size of their own rooms. 

“That was way too much pressure,” Minhyun spoke low enough for Aron’s ears to pick up, “Do you think Mrs. Choi’s always like this?” 

“Maybe,” Aron concluded, “It’s either he isn’t brave enough to talk back or he just gave up trying to let his mom see reason.”

“Just shut up,” Minhyun tried killing the conversation, “He might hear us.”

“You started it. I should be asking these but you’re too hung up on liking Minki that you want to know everything about him.”

“Why the hell are you whispering?” Minki mumbled while walking out of his closet with a stack of clothes in his arms.

“Was talking about weird things,” Aron covered up quickly, “Trust me, you wouldn’t want to hear it.”

Shrugging, Minki threw all the clothes on his bed. Surprised with the amount of clothes he had pulled out, Aron panicked and started rambling about how he wouldn’t wear a skirt. Ignoring his whines, Minki forced Minhyun to aid him in choosing the perfect outfit for Aron’s date.

He went through different swatches before at least ten different outfits were chosen for him to try on.

-

While Aron was held captive in Minki’s bathroom for the next couple of hours, Hwang and Choi flirted the entire time, but stopped as soon as Mrs. Choi entered the room.

“Minki,” she spoke softly, a total contrast from earlier when she had screamed at him, “Do your friends want something to eat? We have some cookies and tea.”

“No thank you,” Minhyun politely declined, “We ate before we came here. Thank you!”

She made no further acknowledgement but scanned the room to see it in disarray with all the clothes Minki had forced Aron to try. Before turning to leave, she let out a disappointed sigh. Even Aron had heard it from inside the bathroom.

To comfort Minki, Minhyun had grabbed his hands. Both of their faces were heavily flushed and didn’t let go until Aron emerged from the room.

“Again, I hate it. And I heard your mom come in…” Aron trailed off when his eyes caught sight of the intimate moment the two had made for themselves and immediately felt awkward. In embarrassment, he grabbed the next couple of outfits and disappeared into the bathroom again.

"Minhyun," Minki called quietly, "Stop looking at me like that." 

"Isn't this what you always do during classes and at the club?" Minhyun playfully smirked knowing he caught his crush in the act. 

"That's because you're so annoyingly pretty."

"Aren't you dashing as well?" Oh how much did Minki want to slap him for playing with his brittle heart. 

The silence made Minhyun sigh deeply. "Minki, can you tell me why you were so quiet when your mom came ? She seems nice enough? Is there something else we have to know?"

"She _is_ nice. She's pretty thoughtful too, right?" 

Minhyun bit his lips in anticipation of his next words. "Maybe to us she is. What about her attitude to you? We heard her yelling at you and I'm pretty sure you didn't do anything particularly bad so far. Your smile was so fake, I refused to believe that was you.

"I won't force you to say anything you don't want to. Just know we're here for you. Okay?" He had desperately wanted to say _I'll be here for you because I love you,_ too. 

Minhyun hugged Minki very tightly and stroked his hair gently. Minki was encased in loving arms and for the first time in forever, he felt like he was loved. 

On the other side of the bathroom door, Aron had his back against the oak wood, waiting for a proper opportunity to leave. 

-

D-Day had come around again but this one was significantly different to the other times they had gone out. 

It was the day Jonghyun would ask Grace to be his girlfriend. The day Jonghyun would be honest to himself. The day Aron would tell the truth, at whatever cost. 

As with the previous dates, Jonghyun arrived approximately fifteen minutes earlier to prep himself for the big event. However, Aron had come even earlier to steel his nerves. 

Once Jonghyun's eyes fell upon Aron, he was instantly put under some spell the other had casted for his eyes only. At least it seemed like that to the boy. 

"Grace," Jonghyun spilled the name from his lips like honey, "You look amazing."

"Thanks! You look like quite the charmer yourself!" 

Indeed, Jonghyun was wearing a turtleneck shirt with long sleeves with a checked cardigan and brown slacks. 

Aron, on the other hand, was wearing a white frilly blouse tucked into his purple pencil skirt topped off with a lengthy butterscotch cardigan. The thin, silver locket attached to his neck weighed heavy with his guilt. 

Like always, they ate at a café and talked for hours on end. But remember when this was said to be different? They changed it up a bit by heading to the park where they went to for their first date, to reminisce. Given that the temperature had dropped a considerable amount, there wouldn't be that many people occupying the park so they could be alone. 

They took their time as they strolled leisurely through the place, interlocking their hands as they walked. Between the two of them, nothing else mattered. After a while, they sat a bench and their talked waned down to comfortable silence until Jonghyun broke it by saying Aron’s supposed name.

“Grace,” Jonghyun called “her” with a serious voice. “I need to tell you something. Promise me you won’t let me down after that. And don’t tell anyone else too.”

Aron’s adam’s apple bobbed up nervously. He already knew what was coming but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be scared. “Jonghyun, did I do something wrong?”

Thinking that “Grace” took his words in the wrong way, Jonghyun clarified that he wanted to take this relationship to the next level, if the other was ready for it. And boy did Aron feel bad because he lied to him all this time but he couldn’t get a word in about his own confession.

"It’s about my sickness. You and I. It’ll sound weird but you have to know."

"What does it have to do with our relationship, Jonghyun?"

"It’s not really a sickness, it’s a cure."

"Like did you do something bad against God and they punished you or something? It sounds a bit far-fetched to me."

“Sort of? It’s been a curse upon my family for centuries now. Thing is, if i were to come in contact with the opposite sex, my emotions or something flare up and I…”

Jonghyun paused. He wanted to tell him the truth, but he was so afraid. Aron took Jonghyun’s hands and squeezed them, making Jonghyun feel more at ease. "Truth is, I’d turn into a dog if that happens."

"A dog?" There was an awkward silence, which was cut in half by the uneasy laugh Aron let out. _What kind of nonsense was he talking about?_ he thought. "Okay that was. I don’t know, what term can I use? Are you really telling me the truth?"

"I understand if you don’t want to talk to me ever. Who’d want to be friends, let alone even date someone as unusual as me?” Aron was taken by surprise.

"What kinda nonsense are you talking about? You have lots of friends! You have Dongho, Minhyun, Minki, and I! Don’t you also have a fan club?” 

"Yeah.But, no one knows the real me. And if they knew, it’s because we literally suffer from the same curse.”

"Hey, I know about it now and I still want to be friends with you!"

Jonghyun genuinely felt like crying; he was overjoyed to hear those words from the person he loved the most.

Aron proceeded to hug Jonghyun which seemed to be the tipping point because his tears flowed bit by bit. Afterwards, Jonghyun felt something was about to happen, and he was unexpectedly happy that if it ever was going to come at this time, he could transform freely with no else in sight with the exception of Aron, of course. 

The transformation was always fast. Smoke plumed around him and Aron could feel the taller boy disappear in a flash. Luckily, he held onto the tiny animal tightly so he wouldn’t fall from his grip. 

Despite what Jonghyun had told him, he was still dumbfounded to find no person but a small dog where Jonghyun had once stood.

“Are you really not afraid?”

"Why would I? You’re super cute! Not that you weren’t already cute before.”

Jonghyun argued that he’d rather live a normal life like everyone else does. Then maybe he wouldn’t have to hide who he truly was. Aron countered that he was super unique to him.

Then he made the mistake of faltering. Jonghyun then knew that Aron had something to say but a glance at his frozen face told him that perhaps he should let Aron say it in his own time. Not now, but whenever.

"Could you close your eyes, Grace?"

And he did. A couple minutes passed, and could feel a light breeze from Jonghyun’s general direction. Perhaps that meant that he turned back into human Jonghyun. He still waited for Jonghyun to tell him to open his eyes.

"Grace?"

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Not quite." Yet another silence reigned. "I have the feeling that you want to tell me something. But, it’s also the right moment for something.”

"The right moment for? Are you gonna tell me that you wore your clothes again because you were naked?”

“Hell no!” Jonghyun being the hypocrite he was, started pulling on his clothes even quicker. “Could I kiss you? You look so beautiful, I’m under your spell. I have this urge to kiss you even if we’re not together. I want to cherish every moment with you before you leave for New York.”

"Moving to New York?” Aron just opened his eyes to see Jonghyun finish fixing his cardigan once more.

Skeptical, Jonghyun’s eyes narrowed but widened with softness once more. “Aron told me that you were moving back to America and since you said that you want to study at NYU I just guessed that you were to go there or something." 

Aron was conflicted again. He didn’t know what to say anymore and just let the quiet atmosphere prevail in his wake. “Grace? Are you alright? I’m sorry! I should’ve let you tell me! I’m sorry…”

“It’s not that,” Aron steeled himself once more, “You’ve been completely honest with me so far so I thought to be the same. I haven’t been truthful to you at all.”

“What? Are you talking about your wig or something? I didn’t want to offend you so I never said anything.” 

“Just let me talk.” Aron’s nails had dug so deeply into his palms that it left angry calluses on them. “I’m a guy. For real.”

Puzzled, Jonghyun did a double-take and nearly choked on air. 

"I’m Kwak Aron, not Kwak Grace like I had told you. She’s my actual sister.” 

"What kinda prank are you playing Grace? It’s actually working on me!" Jonghyun’s hands started profusely sweating as he hoped it wasn’t true.

“I’m not shitting,” Aron affirmed, “When you mentioned the ‘girl’ you happened to crash into, I panicked and said I was my sister because I’m dumb and all. I thought you wouldn’t have pursued it more but you asked me out and it went so well…”

“I’m really sorry Jonghyun. You don’t deserve being lied to.”

“I can’t believe I was so stupid. Both of you were so similar and I chalked it up to you two being twins. Why!” Jonghyun’s eyes started welling up in both anger and disappointment. He stood up and walked a distance from the bench they sat at.

“Jonghyun! Wait! I had to because-” Aron ran after Jonghyun and tried to hold his arm captive so he could explain but the latter’s fury was far too much for Aron to stop.

“Zip it. Nada. I don’t want to hear anything else! Don’t try to get to me. I trusted you so much! How dare you!”

And just like that, Aron was left alone in the park as Jonghyun’s silhouette faded gradually into the horizon. Suddenly, he was gone. 

Their hearts shattered at the same time, at the same frequency. It would take a miracle to get them back together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this is not disappointing, I'm bad at imagining things, especially when it has to be angst, but thanks to my beta it's so great so thank you again and hope you like this chapter !!!


	4. The Last Moment

One day passed. Then the days turned into weeks and weeks turned into a month. In the blink of an eye, the holidays had come.

That Saturday was a bright, sunny day. As per their usual schedules, Minki and Dongho would typically come over to Jonghyun’s place as between the three families, Jonghyun’s was the most welcoming. But Minki had a date scheduled with Minhyun so Dongho and Jonghyun were left together.

“How are you feeling now?” Dongho asked kindly.

“Still feelin’ like shit, if you wanna know,” Jonghyun answered with a tired sigh while turning in his bed.

“Kim Jonghyun? Swearing?” A long whistle was produced. “You really are in a horrible state.” After that, Kang got hit with a pillow from a mildly annoyed Jonghyun and laughed happily. “But on a serious note, it’s been a month by now. Shouldn’t you talk to him? To clear things up?”

“And just like that?” Jonghuyun got up and crossed his arms. “Do you expect me to forgive him that easily?”

“No,” Dongho corrected, “I meant that you guys should just talk so that you’ll understand why he did it. Get that closure.”

"Why would I do that?” 

”Oh, I wouldn’t know,” sweet mockery rolled off Dongho’s tongue, “When he wanted to talk with you, didn’t you just ignore him or scream childishly?"

"Which side are you on?”

"Yours of course! But it hurts to see you like this."

"Why do you want to talk about this anyway? It’s been over a month, what the hell are you worrying about now?"

“If Minki was in here instead of me, it’d be a whole mess. Don’t want that? Then let’s talk calmly.”

“Go ahead,” Jonghyun said stubbornly, “I have nothing more to say. He hurt me and I trusted him with my secret.”

“I know, but he must’ve had a reason to lie too. Hear him out.” Amidst the chaos in his own life, Dongho knew what things had to be resolved so that people could get on with their lives.

“He’s cancelled,” Jonghyun refuted once more with even more subborness than before, “He said he was embarrassed. Why’d he think that dressing up as a girl and playing with me was fun? If he really liked me, he could’ve just said it.”

Dongho saw his opportunity and seized it. “How can you tell he liked you?” Jonghyun didn’t even get a word in before Dongho threw yet another question his way, slandering the boy in the process: “See? You don’t know anything- you’re just assuming. This is why you’ve got to talk to him.”

“Fine,” Jonghyun raised his arms in defeat, “But it’s been a month since we talked. How am I supposed to-“ Before he could even finish his sentence, Dongho had cut him off abruptly to make his point. 

“Since you didn’t want to talk.” “Okay fine you asshole! Since I didn’t want to talk, how could I just come up to him and act as if nothing ever happened.”

“Then don’t act like that,” the younger deadpanned. For real, he had enough with Jonghyun’s pissy attitude this time. “Be genuine. Get enough courage. Fighting!” He grabbed Jonghyun’s phone from the nightstand and tossed it his way. Despite his “helpful deed”, the other just scowled at him, but not entirely unkindly. 

Glancing at the dark screen of his phone, he froze with the fear of sending Aron a message and the possible replies he might receive in return. He shook them off with a jitter and turned to Dongho to mutter a quiet, grateful word of thanks for encouraging him to solve his own problems.

“That’s what friends are for, right?” Dongho flashed the other a beaming smile and gestured for him to call the crossdresser. Or former crossdresser. 

“Can’t I just send a message instead? I’m scared my voice will crack halfway through the conversation or something.”

Dongho’s laugh roared across the room to let Jonghyun know what he thought of it. Clearly a no. Took a couple of minutes for it to simmer down into a sarcastic laugh and then nothing at all. Then, he deadpanned once more into Jonghyun’s eyes, as if all that wasn’t enough to get his point across. 

You know, in case he still couldn’t grasp it.

“Jeez,” Jonghyun yet again admitted defeat, “I’ll call him. Hey! Stop looking at me as if you’re my mom! Dongho!”

-

“Dude, your room’s literally a swamp at this point.” Grace picked up a handful of Aron’s garments and threw them at the sulking boy to prove her point. “Are you Shrek or something?”

“Get outta my swamp then,” Aron sank deeper into his pillow stained with tears, “It shows how messed up I am.”  
  


Wading her way into the garbage of a room, she sat on the edge of Aron’s bed and suggested, once again, that he should probably talk to Jonghyun if he was that upset. To “at least clear things up”, quoting Grace herself.

“Screw you,” she gave up at trying to convince Aron to do anything useful, “Maybe you want to fly all the way back to the States without another word?” 

“Love ya too, sis.”   
  


Grace left Aron to continue wallowing in pity shortly after. It gave him the opportunity to think again about his situation and Jonghyun. 

Nearly a month after Jonghyun stormed off in anger when Aron told him the truth, the two hadn’t crossed paths intentionally at all. After all, Jonghyun ran away whenever Aron had come even remotely close to him. 

Then again, he’ll fly to the States soon for university since he already got his application accepted for NYU. That way, he could forget Jonghyun easily and not have to deal with his feelings that blossomed into more than what they should have been. 

Ding!

Aron’s head was immediately pulled out of his sea of thoughts when he received a text message. At first, he dreamed that it was Jonghyun who texted him only for him to realise that Jonghyun actually did text him. 

The text was composed of three words and a time: “Tomorrow. Spoonz Café. 4pm.”

Aron’s heart couldn’t have skipped quicker.

-

Time passed once more and Aron found himself hesitating to pull the door of the café to face Jonghyun as himself. His emotions were an awful jumble of everything and nothing: stress, nausea, excitement. All these emotions disappeared in a flash when Jonghyun appeared in front of him. 

Although the café was packed with customers, Aron hadn’t experienced such a grueling silence like this in his life. The only noise that occured between them had been the waiter who asked for their orders but even that hadn’t broken the silence completely.

Aron took it upon himself to spark the conversation somehow. Small talk didn’t seem to work quite well so he plunged straight into his explanation. 

“I honestly don’t know where to start,” he timidly began while Jonghyun’s eyes zeroed in on him, “I didn’t quite prepare for this. Look, I will admit that I was selfish- I thought that I could make you happy somehow because of your sickness and all. I didn’t want to damage whatever hope you had with me. 

I thought that if I could just lie this once, you’ll be happy. Hadn’t thought of it as that big of a deal. But, the more time we spent together, the more difficult it became to tell you the truth. I’m sorry you had to know like that. I’m sorry that I lied to you.”

His eyes fell to his lap the moment he finished as if wanting to never meet Jonghyun ever again. They threatened to spill unshed tears too. 

In spite of all the things Jonghyun had said about Aron, he wanted to hold his hands and hug him once more. Never had Aron looked more pitiful and vulnerable than he did now.

“You’re telling me that you did this because you cared for me?” To affirm what he had just said, Aron slowly nodded in response. In his reticence he had the sense of atoning to Jonghyun. Reaching for Aron’s trembling hands under the table, he stilled the other so he could continue although, it seemed to be that he stilled himself. 

“I understand. Of course I’ll still be mad because you lied to me, but I do like the attention,” beamed Jonghyun happily. Aron was taken aback by how quickly his moods had changed in less than thirty minutes.

“Jonghyun,” Aron restlessly whispered, “I think I-”

Too bad. The waiter had come to place their orders on the table which totally interrupted Aron’s second confession before it could take place.

“Thank you,” Jonghyun uttered, giving the waiter a polite smile before turning back to Aron being a sputtering mess, “What were you gonna say?”

“Nothing important. Let’s eat?”

Everything seemed like it reverted back to normal: they talked like they used to and acted the same as before. They talked about how his parents handled Jonghyun’s transformations, Grace and Hannah teasing Aron’s makeup-filled face after the dates and practically anything and everything they could think of. The only difference was that they only spoke the truth to each other. No lies. No more deceiving.

Being the indecisive Aron he was, he was hesitant to tell Jonghyun what he really felt but it wasn’t like he had many opportunities to tell him the words that he locked in his heart. 

“Could I ask you why you suddenly wanted to talk? You’ve kinda been avoiding me this past month?” Aron decided to say instead while scratching his head to busy his hands (they were trembling too much).

Jonghyun hummed to show that he still had a bit of cake left in his mouth before he replied. “Dongho and I talked and he made me realise that I only assumed your reasons and stuff because I was too scared and mad to know the truth. I’m glad we patched things up, even if it did take a while.”

Aron looked pleased with Jonghyun’s answer and grinned timidly with delight. In a way, his burdens had been lifted because they cleared their problems smoothly. Well, not all of them. A couple more had to be addressed. 

“I wanted to tell you something before the waiter came by.”

“Go for it.”

“It’s about NYU. I was accepted and I’m not sure whether I should go for it or not. It’s my dream school and all and I’d love to go but...” 

The mild sadness was evident in Jonghyun’s eyes as he heard that though he did quickly mask it with softness and encouragement. “You should definitely accept it! What’s stopping you?”

As if in a dramaturgy, Aron’s lines spilled out before he had the prospect to even think about them as if he had practiced them day after day just for this very moment. “But I can’t go because of you! You’re the reason I’m holding back!”

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Jonghyun was looking at him with a gaping mouth. He truly messed up this time.

In an endeavour to cover up his sudden outburst, Aron rapidly explained that he thought Jonghyun would get sad or the other because they had just become friends again. To his dismay, Jonghyun happily told him that it wouldn’t be too much of a problem since they’d be able to keep in contact with each other. 

“Do you really not want to see me anymore?” Surely a pout would be able to get the other on his side.

“Perhaps?” 

“How annoying.” Jonghyun had his feet lightly trampled on by Kwak.

Though, he couldn’t pretend to be mad when the other radiated the sun’s pure energy: it was far too bright for him not to melt at the sight.

“it’s fine. We still have a lot of time before that happens, right? Besides, it’s not easy to forget you. Even without your get-up, you’re still adorable! That’s what I love about you, after all.”

There goes the erratic beating of Aron’s heart once again. Did Jonghyun still love him even though he knew what he really was? He didn’t even have time to ponder about it because he might as well make the most out of his limited time left with the boy he loved.

-

A whole month had passed by and the two certainly had a blast! They spent their time together by heading out for the parks around Seoul, eating at different cafés and dragged Dongho, Minhyun and Minki with them to the brand new amusement park that opened just in time for the holidays.

Additionally, Aron got to meet Kang Dongho and while he was intimidated at first, he quickly learned that the stocky lad was softer than he looked. What more, their mutual friends even threw a farewell party for Aron before he was set to travel to America. 

And the day had come, however much Jonghyun and Aron wished it hadn’t.

A few hours prior to Aron’s flight, Mrs. Kwak was busying herself with making sure Aron had everything he needed while his sisters annoyed him as much as possible. Granted, they wouldn’t be able to see their favourite brother for years at a time and that’s not counting the short vacations they’d make each year. 

“Aron,” his mom had called, “There’s no turning back now. Are you absolutely sure about this?”

“Mom, I wouldn’t have agreed if I wasn’t sure.”

“I thought you didn’t want to go because of that boy,” Hannah chimed in. 

“I really do want to pursue this course! And Jonghyun was the one who pushed me to go in the end. I couldn’t let him down.”

“My, my!” sang Grace and Hannah in chorus, “You really do love this boy!”

“So maybe I do. What about it?”

“It is quite cute, Aron. We’re glad that you chose to go to NYU, it’ll open up so many opportunities for you! Just keep in touch with your family and friends alright?” 

-

At the airport, Aron bid his farewells to his family and friends. His mother reminded him that his father would pick him up and that Mrs. Hong will welcome him whenever he needs to take a break from everything once in a while. 

Grace and Hannah hogged him yet again by mentioning to get them lots of American things when they get to see him again.

His friends went up to him next. First came Minhyun, followed by Dongho and Minki and finally, Jonghyun. 

“Dude!” Minhyun exclaimed while hugging Aron who may have lost all the air in his lungs in the process. “I can’t believe your annoyingly handsome face for the next couple of years! Come back safe and healthy! Don’t you dare forget me or I’ll send Minki after you!”

Tugging at his best friend’s collar to pull him down to his eye level, Aron smiled cheekily and reminded the tall boy that he’s likely to never forget all the memories he’s made with him, they were best friends after all.

“I know we’ve only known each other for a month, you’re definitely one of the more fun friends I’ve got!” Dongho flashed him a gummy smile to show his sincerity. “When you come back, let’s all go out together!” 

“Definitely! And thank you again. Without you, Jonghyun and I probably wouldn’t have reconciled at all!” Aron made a full ninety degree bow in return for all the things Dongho had done for them.

“Hey,” Minki strut his dramatic stride as he came up to Aron, “As annoying as you are, I’m gonna miss you. You may not be my boyfriend but I’ll consider you my side-chick for now.”

Grinning sheepishly and fighting the urge to annoy Minki once more, he gave the boy a hug of gratitude. Meanwhile, the other struggled to not stab his friend in the eye.

“Why am I last?” Jonghyun mumbled, scratching his neck in embarrassment as everyone had their eyes on them.

“Is that all you’re gonna say? Boring.” Aron put extra emphasis on “boring” like his sisters would when making a point.

“To be honest, I don’t want you to go.” Astonished, Aron’s mouth was left to hang open with no words coming out. “I didn’t want to be selfish so I- Wait, why are you crying?”

Even Aron didn’t realise tears had rolled down his cheeks until Jonghyun pointed it out. Neither of them knew what to do.

“Idiot.”

“Excuse me?”

“You idiot,” Aron sniffled a bit, “Had you said it sooner, I wouldn’t have agreed to going to America. I would’ve been with you. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“That’s because...” Jonghyun took a step closer to the crying boy and held his hands gently, not caring whether anyone else could see them. “I want you to live your dreams. You can’t just abandon what you’ve wanted to do just for one person.”

“I’d still rather be with you, Jonghyun-ah.”

The gap between them was closing in. Eyes were locked. Aron reached up slightly to grab Jonghyun’s lips in his. Nothing else mattered. Everything else was drowned out by the brief, chaste kiss they had shared.

Aron’s family and his friends else stood there, gaping at the scene with awe in their eyes. No doubt that this would be a frequent topic at family gatherings. 

But everything has an end. And so, they parted ways.

“You should go,” whispered Jonghyun softly, “Don’t miss your flight. I’ll miss you. When you come back and we still like each other, take me out on a proper date. You’ll do that, right?”

“Of course.” 

  
Aron’s heart wanted to say, _I’ll still love you until then_ , but he had to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little rush at the end but I hope you'll still enjoy it ^^'
> 
> Thank you to read until now and hope you will like the next and last chapter :D


	5. The Reunion

Five years have already passed and soon enough, Aron will finally come back from America. Everyone was thrilled to see him fresh out of college.  
  


Despite the distance between them, they had all kept in touch with the golden boy. Aron was updated on what was going on with his loved ones back home while the other four knew what Aron was up to in the States. Details about their lives were a constant topic that the five talked about for those five years apart.

-

Dongho and Minki were busy organising the welcome party that was to be held at the NU’EST Café for it held great memories: namely, it hosted the fateful meeting of Aron and Jonghyun. The latter gave them a list of things to prepare, all with his and Aron’s taste in mind.

Simultaneously, Jonghyun and Minhyun made their way to the airport with Mrs. Kwak in tow. By the time they had arrived at the airport at 9:00pm, Aron’s plane was set to touch down within the next thirty minutes, as per the flight checker his mother had installed prior. 

The minutes trickled down to twenty. Then ten. And before they knew it, Aron’s plane had touched South Korean land. Jonghyun’s heart raced in excitement. 

_I’ll see him again_ , he thought, looking at the arrivals.

For a moment, he was tempted to run the moment the arrivals received the passengers. If it wasn’t for Minhyun physically holding him down, he probably would have looked like a fool, chasing after someone like that. 

And finally, Kwak Aron appeared in his sight for the first time, although something was different this time. Princely ruby hair made Aron stand out in a crowd full of nameless entities, although it was kind of difficult to spot him with his height being shorter than the other four. 

However, the sight of him certainly did take his breath away just like the very first time. So maybe, not _everything_ has changed. Jonghyun was still definitely in love with Aron, even after all these years.

“Over here!” Minhyun shouted above the hustle bustle of the crowd in an attempt to catch Aron’s attention. Their target waved back with the same enthusiasm Minhyun had thrown in his exclamation and made his way to the three.

Minhyun threw himself onto Aron for a hug. “I missed you so much!” Minhyun screeched happily reaching for Aron’s face as if to see if he really was there in front of him. “I can’t believe you’re here! Am I dreaming or something?” 

“Dude stop,” Aron spoke as he peeled Minhyun off him, “I’m also happy to see you but I’m really tired so screw off for a bit.” A cheeky grin appeared on Minhyun’s annoying face as if to tell him that’s not all. Unfortunately for him, Aron’s brain was still processing the jetlag accumulated from the fourteen-hour trip to respond properly.

“Come here, my dear boy,” Mrs. Kwak called softly while reaching out a hand for her son to grab, “Jonghyun, Minhyun, could you take his luggage?” In response, the two boys nodded politely and snatched Aron’s things from his hands.

As soon as they sat down in the car for the ride to the surprise party, Aron’s head lolled to one side signifying that he dozed off quite quickly. Jonghyun and Minhyun looked at each other nervously.

“Are you sure we can still hold the party? He’s very jetlagged.” Minhyun inquired in barely a whisper. Jonghyun nodded confidently and texted Dongho that they were on the way. “SInce he’ll sleep during the ride, I’m sure he’ll be a little bit more energised. Besides, we already have the party under preparation. I’d hate for Minki and Dongho to kill us on arrival.” 

The three friends all fell asleep for the rest of the duration of the trip. Jonghyun and Minhyun’s heads had dropped onto either of Aron’s shoulders.

Mrs. Kwak looked at them in the rear view mirror and smiled a little to herself. Surely their positions weren’t comfortable enough. She could already hear Aron’s complaints in the near future.

-

At the NU’EST Café however, Dongho and Minki were still preparing for the party, making sure everything was in place before their esteemed guest was to come.

“Minki,” Dongho called from underneath the table as some of the balloons were stuck underneath, “Where’s the cake?”

“Right here!” Minki exclaimed, extending out his arms to show him the cake. 

To see how it was, Dongho emerged from below to come face to face with a slightly disheveled cake.

He deadpanned on sight. “Did you help make it?”

“Hell yeah,” came the proud reply, “It needed a personal touch from yours truly.” Dongho just gave up and returned to whatever he busied himself with before: supervising what he could (Minki wasn’t part of it). 

The clock had almost struck 10:00pm by the time they completed fixing everything. All they had to do was wait (and perhaps play some games to pass the time).

-

Nearly an hour passed during the trip from the airport to the café but they still made it in time for the celebration. Aron’s mother came out of the car to let Jonghyun out but not before asking him about his plans. 

“Jonghyun,” the woman gently tapped the boy on the shoulder, “We’re here. What’s next?”

Shrugging, Jonghyun shook Aron awake to see the verdict. “Still tired?”

“Depends. Where are we? I don’t have my contacts in so I can’t see very well.”

“In front of NU’EST Café.” 

“Why not?” Aron flashed Jonghyun a tired but joyful smile, “It’s been a while. Wanna drink some coffee?”

Minhyun was then shaken awake so that they could all get out of the car and into the coffee shop where fate had pulled Aron and Jonghyun together.

Since Aron didn’t have his contacts in and he was still sleepy, he hadn’t seen the bright lights of the café nor all the decorations they put up for the event. He also didn’t notice the myriad of people waiting to greet him; he just thought that the shop was just full with regular customers.

Upon entering, the group of people present welcomed him back to Korea. Needless to say, Aron woke up even more at the sudden noise and looked around. In the span of a second, his eyes caught a banner saying “WELCOME BACK ARON” hanging on the wall. He also took in the little ornaments dangling from the ceiling and obviously, the people. And the food. Especially the food.

“Welcome back Aron!” Everyone yelled happily. Frozen in pleasant shock, Aron could only smile and say thank you over and over. It took awhile for him to compose himself once more but when he did, he couldn’t but feel so grateful for what his loved ones had done for him.

Although so many people missed him, he realised that he missed a certain person in particular. Kim Jonghyun. His eyes scanned the café (he finally put on his glasses) only to realise that the one he was searching for wasn’t there. Frantic, he asked everyone for the other’s whereabouts but was met with sly smiles and them telling him to wait a little bit longer. 

Exhausted and happy as he was, Aron was starting to become salty but figured he might as well enjoy what he had for now: the party. 

Ten minutes ticked by and Minki strolled up to the table in the center of the café. Everyone quieted down.

“We’re here to celebrate Aron’s return from America, aren’t we? Let’s give him a round of applause!’ On cue, everyone applauded and that included Aron. “Thank you! Could you come here Aron?”

Puzzled, Aron walked over to Minki’s spot and stood there, unsure of what to do next. “Do you know why we chose this café in particular?”

Without skipping a beat, Aron replied sheepishly. According to him, he thought that they chose it because he worked there before and it’s unlikely that everyone would be able to fit in his familial home.

Discontented, Minki urged him to think again. He even gave him the hint that Aron met someone very special in that very café all those years ago when they were still teenagers. Heat started to rise on Aron’s face in belated realisation.

“Jonghyun and I met here, right?”

Just to be cheeky, Dongho piped up and told him to repeat his statement for “those at the back probably couldn’t hear you”, quoting him word for word.

“I said Jonghyun and I met here!” 

“Really?” a voice spoke behind Aron in a sing-song manner, “I don’t remember meeting you here.” Turning around, Aron was faced with Jonghyun in a dog costume, hands suspiciously folded behind his back. 

“The hell? Why are you wearing such a weird costume?”

“Why not?” To probe his point, he pretended to bark which then caused Aron to laugh. Jonghyun had missed hearing the blissful sound in person for the past five years.

“But were you serious about not remembering that we met here back then?” Kwak’s eyes drooped in slight sadness. Jonghyun’s innocent smile remained plastered to his face.

“Totally! I never met a Kwak Aron here. However, I _do_ remember meeting a very special girl.” A wig similar to Aron’s when he dressed up as “Grace” was suddenly produced from behind Jonghyun. Next thing he knew, it was placed upon his head haphazardly. “Hang on! I do remember you!”

Oh how much Aron wanted to gut Jonghyun while he was hugging him tightly. But he wouldn't want to disrupt the warmth he was receiving.

“Do you prefer Grace or Aron?”

"Grace or Aron ? Isn't it the same, or are you talking about your sister ?"

“I meant me crossdressing because I was a dumbass. But I wouldn’t know. Why’d you mention my other persona? Weren’t we over this?”

“We are, don’t worry! I just didn’t want to look like a fool alone.” Jonghyun patted the back of Aron’s head in friendly fervor. “You know that I love you, right? Always.”

Taken aback, Aron stepped away from Jonghyun’s embrace. _So suddenly,_ he thought.

They both stood there for a while. Meanwhile, the bystanders had the entire thing recorded in case something were to happen.

“What did you say?”

“Don’t worry?” Jonghyun offered annoyingly with a brash grin.

“After that. Don’t even try to play games with me, Kim Jonghyun.”

"You have to tell me what I said, I don’t remember it."

“God, you’re so annoying,” Aron sighed but continued nevertheless, “The part where you said you loved me.”

"I love you Aron. I love everything about you. Because there’s no other person that could be as cute and as amazing as you are to me.” Pausing for a moment, Jonghyun parted the messy bangs of Aron’s wig to peer at his burning face. 

“Even if you lied to me, you did it because you thought it would make me happier. I hate to admit it but you were right. You’re selfless. There’s too many things to say about you. How about I just show you?”

Time unfroze for Aron and soon enough, Jonghyun had grabbed his neck and locked their lips together, all before he could process the sudden confession. Unlike their kiss at the airport five years ago, this one was passionate and full of love. They missed each other for five whole years. Sure, they always talked and flirted over the internet but it wasn’t the same. 

This kiss contained all the wait and love of the two lovers. Although Aron was never one for sweets, he’ll definitely admit that Jonghyun’s lips on his were the sweetest thing he had come to taste in his life. 

When their lips parted ways, they smiled bashfully. Just like the very first one they shared. 

“I love you so, Aron. I’m just hoping you love me the same because I’m sure our audience would be very disappointed.”

“Do you really think I wouldn’t kiss you like that if I didn’t love you back?”

“I hope not.”

“Dumbass.” Aron attempted to cool his face down, he could even liken it to a crimson spider lily. “I love you. Forever and ever. ‘Till the end of time.”

Their lips came together again. Their love had come full circle, in the very place everything started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And you reach the end of my fic, hope you enjoy it even if I have to admit the end was a little rush hehe ^^'
> 
> This is the lyrics from Segno that my beta @overcomelovebot thought it could fit in and actually it's very great but I thought that it doesn't fit in the fic but still so I just put it in the note ! and for the last time, thank you very much to be my beta reader I don't know I would do without you !
> 
> "Throughout the far and wide journey I took to find you  
> You were always in my heart"  
> -Track 1: Segno  
> Happily Ever After [2019]


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